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AIBU?

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Original poster

This is going to upset you:outrageous benefit cheats.

128 replies

GabbyLoggon · 15/10/2010 13:18

The bizarre benefits cheats who are caught on film make me laugh.

You will have seen the following:

The one filmed running in a marathon and staring at the camera.

The older bloke playing football very vigorously.

The recent one driving a van whilst claiming
incapacity.

The running linesman doing a good job on incapacity.

The golfer playing a nifty round.

OP posts:
AMumInScotland · 15/10/2010 13:22

Not sure of your point here? Yes, some people cheat on benefits, and are investigated and caught. Does anyone claim that never happens? Hmm

slhilly · 15/10/2010 13:23

What you won't have seen on film:

  • The decision by HMRC not to pursue Vodafone for £6bn of taxes that it appeared to be owed
  • The Monaco home of the tax-avoider that the government brought in to root out government waste
  • The cases of fine wines and other luxury goods with which financiers have been paid their bonuses in past years, to avoid paying income tax
  • etc et bloody cetera

All of which costs us a damnded sight more than the benefits cheats

bubbleOseven · 15/10/2010 13:24

Why would it upset us if benefit cheats are caught?

What's your point?

Glitterknickaz · 15/10/2010 13:25

nice one, slhilly Grin

bubbleOseven · 15/10/2010 13:25

What, it's ok for people to cheat the benefits system because vodafone owe the government money?

Grow up.

altinkum · 15/10/2010 13:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mayorquimby · 15/10/2010 13:26

"The Monaco home of the tax-avoider that the government brought in to root out government waste"

surely that's exactly the sort of person you want in charge of such a procedure.
someone who knows the system and makes sensible decisions on how to invest their money.

expatinscotland · 15/10/2010 13:26

gabby's back!

oh, btw, just so you know, there hasn't been 'incapacity' for over a year.

it's called employment support allowance.

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 13:28

I love how we always get stories of this type (from the Daily Mail et al) but we never hear about all the people who are genuinely entitled to all kinds of help but struggle on without it because they don't realise they're entitled or they're too scared they'll get it and then told they weren't entitled and have to pay it all back.

For example, I got tax credits when they first came out but they miscalculated and overpaid me. I queried this with them multiple times and they assured me it was right. Then they said, 'actually no, it's not, you owe us £3000'. From that point on I stopped claiming and slowly paid them back because I was terrified of it happening again. In hindsight, I should have claimed, but I never wanted to be that vulnerable again. Now that I'm done with university and have a good income I'm no longer entitled to them, but I did struggle for years as a single parent on a very low income. In hindsight, I think I should also have gotten HB, but I didn't know so I stumped up far more than 1/2 my monthly income in rent every month and pondered how I was going to afford to feed both of us.

I don't want some kind of martyr's medal. Obviously we survived. However, it worries me that there are a lot of vulnerable people going without and their situation isn't likely to be as temporary as mine was.

electra · 15/10/2010 13:35

Oh dear.

The point is Gabby, that in every aspect of life there are cheats. Benefit cheats are not the only cheats so why are you specifically getting worked up about them and not about

the fact that we have to pay extra for everything we buy to cover the cost of shoplifting?

the fact that people lie on their CV and get jobs they weren't technically qualified for?

Cheats are doing so at their own risk. I concentrate on doing the right thing so my conscience is clear.

But do I like to spend time becoming embittered about the wrongs of others? No.

theywillgrowup · 15/10/2010 13:35

philip green makes my blood boil with all his going ons

cant for the life of me understand how he makes so much money,every time i go in BHS its dead and over priced,would rather pay a few pounds more and shop in marks

must make his profit from Top Shop and the others,vile man

theywillgrowup · 15/10/2010 13:36

sorry of topic then

proudnscary · 15/10/2010 13:42

What the fecking aida is the point of this thread? What electra said.

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 13:48

There isn't a point, she just wants to upset people.

There isn't even an AIBU question posed.

However, I'd be quite happy to hear tales of people who have been taken of disability benefits because of over-zealous bonus-seeking assessors but who are too exhausted/scared/unknowledgeable to appeal, or vulnerable old people who are so confused by our deliberately byzantine benefits system that they really don't know that they'd be entitled to enough money to live on if only they could understand the forms. Somehow these stories don't seem to be as appealing to media as the minority of people who want to cheat the system.

Glitterknickaz · 15/10/2010 13:51

Or tales of multiple disabled people turned down for DLA (some amputees) cos they figure most won't try appealing so they'll save some money.... and if you think that doesn't happen you're a bit naive...

electra · 15/10/2010 13:51

indeed pc

MrsFlittersnoop · 15/10/2010 13:56

Ok Gabby, read THIS thread currently in active convos.

Why don't you join in and have a gloat over there?

cory · 15/10/2010 14:08

There is a difference in that people who start posts about benefit cheats intend this to say something about benefit claimants in general- and this is how it is generally understood.

Whereas if I were to start a thread about say, student plagiarism (which is well known to be rife), noone would take that as a reflection on all those thousands of graduates who actually deserve the degrees they've got.

It is only poor people, or disabled people, who are smeared with other people's dishonesty.

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 14:13

Actewal Real Facts

cheers

oh and

benefit cheaters are theieves

yes arrest them

benefits are often extremely hard to access for those who need them- witness the very existence of the disability tribunal system, NAS campiagns concerned about people with ASD being forced into those tribunals as they are struggling to prove their disability to new assessors....... there's no one way anyone is having it

ShirleyGarrote · 15/10/2010 14:15

HOORAY!

It's my favourite poster back again!

Hello Gabbey you lovely little ruffler of feathers.

Original poster
GabbyLoggon · 15/10/2010 14:34

WORKED UP? Just the opposite I am telling you I find the films hilarious

Its a class thing with me, with bankers I would be severe.

The cove who did vigorous floor dancing on Britains Got Talent..amused me.

The point is I am not shocked by benefit cheats .

I am shocked by the number of people who should be claiming and are not.

OP posts:
PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 14:40

surely chat is the place for sharing things you find hilarious. Posting in AIBU implies you're irate in some way.

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 14:44

Now, wrt to should be claiming you have a point; there is a benefit I should be claiming, we didnt for as long as we could avoid and now I am simply too exhausted to do it. Another poster on here ahs found same thing- both of us carers.

Plenty of elderly people too.

Catch the cheats and get those who should to claim.

PoorlyConstructed · 15/10/2010 14:47

Can we be quite angry with the governments who have purposefully devised a complex, bureaucratic system so as to put as many people off claiming as possible?

cory · 15/10/2010 14:48

Shall I send you round a picture of my dd tpo laugh at, Gabby?

She is disabled and the last time we thought of applying for DLA she was unable to attend school regularly because her disability meant was in too much pain to sit or stand upright. But - you will find this very funny- there were days when she was able to do ballet. Because her disability was intermittent. Sometimes she was disabled and sometimes she wasn't. And when she was not, she looked exactly the same as any other fit person. Hilarious, isn't it?

Of course, there is not an employer in the world who would give a job to someone who collapses at a moment's notice and might then be unable to work for a month- except you can't know, because it is totally unpredictable. How could you possibly run a workplace around someone like that? Even the school found it very difficult. And of course the equipment she needed for when she was disabled was just as expensive as if she had been disabled every day: you can't actually buy 2/3 of a wheelchair, because they might not need it every day.

We badly needed money to buy her the wheelchair and access treatment that might ease the pain. But I couldn't bear the thought of her having to live her life in constant fear of being "found out", especially as the doctors told us she had to be active whenever we could. The paed supported our application- we were afraid of the neighbours. So we made do and cut down on other things.

Still, nice to know she is good for a laugh. Sad

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